Lawmakers eye making death more environmental through human composting

There’s little doubt death is bad for the environment, with burial materials polluting the ground, cremation contaminating the air, and so many graves gobbling up land that New Jersey placed fourth on a list of states most at-risk for running out of cemetery space.

Two state lawmakers have an unusual answer: They want to legalize human composting, in which an unembalmed body would decay — helped along by wood chips, straw, and other organic materials — into soil family members can then scatter or use to plant a memorial garden.

Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex) and Assemblyman Herb Conaway Jr. (D-Burlington) introduced a bill last month to allow mortuary companies to create “natural organic reduction facilities” for supervised body decomposition and authorize the New Jersey State Board of Mortuary Science to create regulations and inspect facilities.

“It’s about options,” Conaway said. “This would allow what I would guess would be a relatively small group of people who were, I would assume, very environmentally active during their life to continue their activism, even when they passed from this life.”

Washington was the first state to legalize human composting in 2019, and it’s now also legal in New York, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Vermont, according to the Green Burial Council.

New Jersey’s lawmakers introduced the bill in their last legislative session too, but it went nowhere — partly because of concerns from the funeral industry about language in the bill that would have put human composting under cemetery statutes.

The new bill was rewritten to put the process under mortuary statutes and require licensed funeral directors to manage body decomposition.

George R. Kelder, CEO and executive director of the New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association, said morticians are well-equipped for such a task because they’re trained in handling human remains, anatomy, communicable diseases, pathology, and microbiology.

“Despite its apparent simplicity, the process demands close supervision, rendering it more akin to a treatment or process rather than merely a form of final disposition, as previously categorized,” Kelder said.

The association now “wholeheartedly” supports the rewritten bill, he added.

“It ensures legislative alignment with existing statutes, upholds New Jersey’s industry separation policies, and enhances consumer choice and protection for individuals considering natural organic reduction as part of their final arrangements,” he said.

The bill awaits hearings before the Senate commerce and Assembly science committees.